Family Matters
by secretfanficlover
Summary: Gellert and Albus go on a mission to try and find the Elder Wand to save Ariana from herself; Albus doesn't expect his friend has other motives.


**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

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Info:

Word Count: 2071

Title: Family Matters

Note: AU! I didn't know Ariana typically died in a three way duel between Albus, Aberforth and Gellert so I suggest that she got tortured by Muggles who cause her to lose control of her magic thus she accidentally blows up the house or something causing her own death. *Riddle not made up, used from the internet.

Warnings: Death, loss

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The Golden Snitch:

Ollivanders: Elder- Elder: Write about the Elder Wand.

* * *

"Aberforth, you know I can't take her with me," Albus said to his brother. Ariana was a handful, and he wouldn't be able to give her his full attention while he was searching for the elder wand. Ariana was listening by the door in her lavender robes; she was fuming with anger at her oldest brother for treating her like a child. She was sixteen years old, not some infant.

"I am not a maiden in need of defending. I am grown!" she said bursting out from the room, in her anger she was making the furniture shake and rattle.

"You stubborn girl; you need to get your head out of the clouds and focus on real life," Albus said to her, and instantly regretted his tone when her face went white as chalk. In her anger, she levitated the telescope in the lounge into the sky; and when she realised what she was doing, it fell with a crash to the ground. Albus was confident once he and Gellert found the Elder wand, they could use its power to help his sister.

After Ariana managed to calm down, she went to her brother while he was packing.

"I'm really gonna miss you. I love you, Albus," she said in a soft voice.

"I'll do anything for you, Ariana, you know that, don't you?" Albus said; glad her mood had changed. There was the illusion of a sparkle in her eyes, she was crying softly, but she wasn't angry. Every time she got angry, she lost control of her magic, and bad things happened all around her.

"Where are you going to be travelling?" she asked.

"I am not sure, Gellert and I will probably be needing to check out multiple leads before we find it," he said, pausing in packing.

"Can you keep a secret?" Albus said, his voice lowering to draw her in.

"Of course, brother," Ariana said, her eyes wide now with excitement.

"I will bring you back a present, the best chocolate I can find," he said with a wink.

She laughed for the first time that day. "Thank you, brother," she said, turning to leave and letting him finish his packing.

* * *

The two friends travelled far away from home to find the wand that Albus believed would help Ariana. Their parent's had refused for her to go to a healer because they knew if she went to an institution, they would never let the poor girl leave and she would be trapped in an asylum for the rest of her life.

They were in Paris when they heard the word that the Elder wand could be in the depths of the forest in Peru. They said that the forest was clouded with magic and no magical items would work in the area. Gellert's French gave them the edge to communicate in Paris. They walked the streets of Paris, trying to find more information but eventually came up empty.

When they found a floo in Le Petit Femme, they decided to continue their journey to Venezuela. They chose not to carry on to Peru right away and spent some time learning more about this wand that had allegedly been missing for over a hundred years. Albus bought himself a Muggle compass, and Gellert teased him.

"What would you do with that inferior Muggle technology?" he asked with a smirk.

"They show direction, Gel, it will help us find our way in the forest," Albus explained.

"We don't need that," he said with his nose in the air. Albus rolled his eyes and bought it anyway, secretly transforming the galleons into Muggle money and paying the man at the counter. As much as he loved the man; he knew they had slightly differing perspectives on how to handle Muggles. Albus believed that knowledge could cure ignorance, and Gellert thought that they were lesser and needed to be treated as such.

"Let's go get some food, I'm starving," Gellert said after they left the Muggle shop. Albus saw a street sign, and they continued to a fast food restaurant. He smiled at Gellert while they ate, thinking about all they have been through together. They were closer than brothers.

"Next stop, Peru," Gellert said to his companion, smiling he lifted his drink to cheers before taking a sip.

* * *

They were planning on traveling to Peru with a portkey. They were in the office of a travel witch that issues long distance portkeys. What Gellert found curious was the item Albus removed from his cloak- a rubber ducky.

"Why on Earth would you be carrying that around?" Gellert muttered.

"It's cute," Albus said smiling as he handed it over to the travel witch. She looked at them curiosity before deciding to mind her own business and went about enchanting the duck.

"It will be ready to go at precisely 19:00, so that's in four hours," the witch said to them. She handed over the duck again, and Albus rummaged in his bag for the galleons.

* * *

They arrived in Peru, and it took them much longer to find the elusive forest then they had initially believed. Albus sent postcards and letters to Ariana wherever they went, but he never received a reply from her. He knew she wasn't one to respond to mail, so he paid it no mind.

When they stumbled upon the forest, they saw it clouded in thick mist. "I think we found it!" Gellert spoke enthusiastically. Gellert tried to do a spell to guide them through the fog, but the magical mist indeed dampened the power of their magic and allowed them no spells to use as shortcuts. They walked into the forest, and Albus took out his compass.

"What are you doing with that?" Gellert asked him curiously.

"Making sure we don't get lost," he replied.

"But how will it help us find the wand?" he queried.

"It won't, but it can make sure we don't get lost," Albus said, smiling at him.

The two men spent hours in the forest until they reached a fork in the road. "Which way do we go?" Gellert asked, automatically annoyed at how slowly this was going. He expected that once they found the forest, the rest would be easy. Two goblins appeared in the fork, and the one said: "You should go this way," pointing to the side he was on, and the other said, "You should go this way," pointing in the opposite direction. Gellert looked at the goblins curiously. Albus turned to him and said: "It seems like this is a test."

"That is true," Goblin number one said, "one of tells only the truth," he continued. "And one of us only tells lies," the other supplied.

Gellert groaned loudly: "So which is which?" he asked.

"I am the right one," both echoed simultaneously.

The two men debated this for a while, wondering how they would figure out which way to go when suddenly Albus's frowned disappeared. "I think I got it," he said with a grin. He turned to the goblins and said: "Which way would the other one tell us is the right way to go?"

"He would tell you to go right," they both echoed. Gellert looked at him, puzzled.

"So we go right?" he asked Albus. Albus shook his head and explained.

"We go left. The one telling the truth would have told us what the liar would say, which is, that we go right. The liar would tell us the one telling us the truth would say to go right, which means we need to go left." The goblins bowed at Albus's response and vanished with a snap of their fingers.

The two men continued further into the forest, and they finally reached a lake, guarded by a sphinx. They tried to pass, but it cut them off. "You shall not pass until you answer me this." the Sphinx said: *"The one who makes me does not need me when he makes me. The one who buys me does not use me for himself or herself. And, the one who uses me doesn't know that he or she is using me. What am I?"

Gellert sighed loudly, but they both considered this for a long time. "Think carefully wizards, the treasure you seek is almost within your grasp," it continued.

"A coffin," Albus said softly. Something about this riddle gave him a bad feeling. When the Sphinx let them pass it said to Albus: "Be aware; the ones we trust sometimes do not deserve it." Before Albus could ask what it had meant by that, it flew off and left him alone with his thoughts and his best friend. The lake was shimmering with light, and a waterfall behind it caused the water to foam and bubble. Something shone from behind the waterfall, and as soon as Albus walked towards it, they water split open; giving them a path to where the Elder wand was lying. Both men reached for the wand, but Albus got it just before. "Hand that over, Albus," Gellert said, his voice was smooth and threatening. Once Albus touched the wand, they both felt their magic returning to them. They had completed what they set out to do. "Experll…" Gellert tried to cry, but Albus reacting too quickly: "Protego!" he shouted, and his friend was flung back against the wall of the cave and disarmed. This wand was the most powerful wand ever made, and Albus believed it would help his sister get better.

"Do you concede?" Albus asked him, giving his friend a hand to pull him up. Gellert nodded but made a last grab towards the Elder Wand. Albus tossed the man his wand and turned his back on him to walk away.

"You're being an idiot, Albus!" Gellert cried.

"I love my sister more than anything in this life," Albus replied, turning back to face his old friend and recognizing what the Sphinx had told him was a warning.

"Life's too short to believe in the best case scenario, Albus," he replied, and a look of sadness flashed across his eyes. "But, I see you are undeterred; one day I will lead a revolution for the greater good, but you chose the wrong side, my friend," Gellert said, his black eyes focused on him for a moment. Then Gellert turned and walked away from his best friend; there was nothing more that he could do to change his mind. He used worship Albus, but it seems like he was no longer the man he used to be.

"Sometimes we just hurt. And that's okay," Gellert's voice echoed before he Apparated away, leaving Albus all alone with the Elder wand and a mission to get justice for Ariana. He looked at her photograph; the smiling face and bright eyes looking up at him with love. He used the Elder wand and looked intently at the picture, Apparating away to his childhood home.

It had taken Albus two long years to find the wand, and he couldn't wait to get back to his siblings and tell them the good news. He was finally going to help cure Ariana. She would be able to lead a healthy life thanks to this wand.

* * *

Albus was holding a box of chocolates in his hands, a red ribbon wrapped around it. It was the present he had promised Ariana when he left, and he wouldn't go back on his word.

He walked through the door, calling to Ariana; but there was no response. Aberforth was sitting in a chair in the darkness, and when Albus flicked on the light switch, he saw his brother's eyes filled with silent tears.

"What happened?" Albus asked. "Where is Ariana?" His eyes scanned the room, which was in complete disarray.

"She is dead," Aberforth said. The box of chocolates with a red ribbon around them was placed down on the table in the hallway. "Some Muggles walked by; they looked similar to those that hurt her; she couldn't control herself. I could never calm her as you could, you should have been here," Aberfoth said, his accusation cutting like a knife.

"No, she can't be, I got the wand," Albus said naively, brandishing the elder wand. The wand was his sole purpose for the last two years, and now he lost his sister and he never even had a chance to say goodbye.


End file.
